Around the House

Probably the most important aspect of the home inspection is looking for potential safety hazards. These come in many forms, some obvious, some not so obvious. Some can be corrected very easily, possibly by the home owner; others require the attention of a qualified professional.

Home Inspectors are not Code Inspectors. We may be familiar with elements of the various building codes, but our focus is life, health and safety. What follows is not an all inclusive list of potential hazards. It represents some of the more frequently encountered hazards.

By far the most common safety hazards are electrical in origin. Outlets near potential sources of water such as kitchens, baths, garages, outside, and in basements need to wired properly. That means no open grounds, no reverse polarity, and all exterior outlets should have a water proof cover. Ground Fault Interrupt outlets are required in all new construction in these areas. Older homes, depending on when they were built or remodeled, may or may not have the GFI outlets in these areas. GFI's were phased in, over time. If the home was built prior to time when they were required, and if there is no municipal inspection, sellers generally are not required to upgrade these prior to the sale of the home. Be sure to know the requirements of the areas in which you work. The home inspector may not know the city requirements for all the towns in which he or she works.

Other electrical safety hazards that are fairly common are open junction boxes. For want of a $0.39 cover plate an open junction box has to written up. It is very common to see these in basements, attics, and garages. Handyman wiring most often is found in attics and garages, but it can be anywhere. Some of these are very easy to detect. One can simply look and see if the junction box is missing a cover and outlet testers are very inexpensive and have diagrams detailing what the various combinations of lights mean.

Problems in the electrical panel may not be so easy to identify. Most people should not open their main panels because there are high voltages and amperages in that box and if one isn't careful one could get hurt or worse, killed. Common hazards found in electric panels are: over fusing - putting in too large a fuse or breaker for the wire size; double tapping or putting more than one wire on a main lug or 220 volt breaker, and using the wrong screws to hold the panel on. The screws should have a blunt end, not a point, so if the screw does hit a wire it pushes the wire out of the way rather than going through the insulation.

Water heaters and boilers two other areas where potential hazards are commonly found. Both of these devices should have overpressure relief valves. There should also be a pipe that directs the potentially scalding hot water and steam away from people. A missing extension is a potential hazard. An improper extension is also a hazard. The valve should have a 3/4" pipe extending close to the floor or into a floor drain. The extension should not be reduced, nor should the extension go up, nor should it be threaded on the output end. These situations can be corrected with just a few dollars worth of pipe.

Other hazards that are frequently found include: loose or missing handrails, balusters that are too widely spaced, loose or missing stair treads, uneven walkways, gas leaks, faulty vent connections on the furnace, boiler or water heater, and faulty fireplaces.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of potential hazards. As agents, it is not you job to find them either. That is what the home inspector should do. What you can do, though, is prepare your clients when they have questions about what the inspection is. We are looking for anything that gives us cause for concern either structurally or mechanically, potential safety hazards, and try to determine the age of major systems: roof; AC; furnace, and water heaters, so that the client (usually the buyer) knows when they may have to start setting money aside for the eventual repair or replacement of these systems.